Economic theory save perhaps lives on the road

The man remained a kindness and extreme modesty. However, the reputation of Robert Delorme is international. "It is one of the most important contributors to the theory of complex systems applied to social sciences, said John Foster, Director of the Institute of Economics at the University of Queensland, Australia. I think that, in the future, his work will be seen as revolutionary. "Edgar Morin and Jean-Louis Le Moigne, hitherto the two French popes of the complexity in the social sciences, have to worry. As the theory of the "deep complexity" that this Professor of Economics at the University of Versailles - Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines has developed can be applied to many areas.

Robert Delorme has thus to co-publish a few months, both dealing with books, one, road safety and the other, Cybernetics. "Its"profound complexity"is a powerful tool to understand the functioning of most of the socio-technical systems", summarizes Yong - joon Jeon, a Korean specialist of energy policies, which, in a sustained France PhD, applied this theory to the management of nuclear waste.

Initially, however, nothing is predestined Robert Delorme research. From a very small family of Bresse, he wants to become a geologist, but a friend persuaded him to join the CAF to economy of Lyon. Then, an American scholarship, he left at Northwestern University near Chicago, completed his thesis on "the update of the plan rate." "I wanted to model the economy as an object on a trajectory, recounts, in a soft voice, Robert Delorme, still all surprised of his naiveté of the time." We were in full conquest of space: we thought that the economy was as an object launched through the cosmos...

Back in France, he began a dual career as a teacher and researcher. And change of world view. "Fast enough, I am interested in a problem which proved can be treated satisfactorily by traditional methods: the role of the State in the economy", he says in the small office available at the Cepremap, a Parisian research centre, where he likes to concentrate, from his students. "Need a new conceptual framework for understanding the"packages of interdependence"between the two.".

"Dissident Economist."

Become a "dissident Economist", as it defines itself, he believes that modeling consumerism has more sense. And still less the systematic use of the computer. "The exclusive use of the computer encourages a vision scientist," he said. At the age of sixty-four, Robert Delorme prefers to focus on the actors in the flesh and bone. Their interactions and the relationship with a complex problem are at the heart of his theory.

According him, everything works according to a schema called PG/P (product generative principle). In a universe (political, economic...) given, a "generative principle" (for example, the enactment of a law on the employment of young people) will lead to a "product" (a strong opposition to this text...) which itself will influence its PG (Amendment of the Act), which, again, will act on its P (decrease or increase in the opposition), etc. But if stakeholders (Government, trade unions, students...) that interact in this universe take time to reflect on the causes of the deadlock, then, they can try to improve their mode of dialogue...

"The way Robert Delorme does projects committed actors to reconsider their knowledge systems," warns Sylvain Lassarre, Director of research at Inrets (national Institute for research on transportation and security), who co-authored the report on road safety. A book to the very practical teachings. "Comparison with Britain highlights, on the one hand the progress of road safety recent France, on the other relative delay of professionalization of the industry, an excess of segregation and a lack of assessment, warns our researcher." Significant margins of progress exist. "Economic theory save perhaps lives on the road...